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A Homeschoolers Idea of a Bad Day

My sanity has been tested the last couple of months, as I prepare for my very first craft fair (coming this December 7) - with my crochet and tatting. (GULP!!) And, of course, I'm obsessing about having enough product to last through the show. Anyway, as many of you know we've lived, as a family of 4, in a 800 sq foor 1-bedroom apartment for the last few years (for financial reasons). We had my DH's and my bed in what would have been the living room, the boys shared the bedroom, and the 'dining room' was our homeschool room.

Well, we've been offered this awesome Eddie Bower barely used couch, so it's resulted in a room shuffle. This means taking everything (every one of my thousands of books) out of the homeschool room, so that our bedroom stuff can go in there, then re-organizing the 'living room' so it can again become one.

Ugh... we've been homeschoolers for over a decade now...that's a lot of..er...stuff... we've accumulated, not to mention I'm a complete biblio-phile with TONS of books of my own....we had them all in cloth grocery bags (since we didn't have the foresight to get boxes) all around the house. The kids room is stacked sky high with all the shelves and such....

Wouldn't you know that during the 3-day shuffle, our car has been having trouble. My DH's co-worker was nice enough to call yesterday (just as we finished emptying the homeschool room) and offer to come over for an hour or so and help DH look at it. Since we need a working car, DH said ok. Wouldn't you know, the co-worker shows up with his wife and 2 kids!!!!! While my house looks like we should be on the show Hoarders! OMG.

So not only did I tell the surprise guests they had to play outside with my boys (Delaying all re-arranging - and the couch is coming today at 4pm) but I told them that if they needed to pee they had to drive to the Dunkin Donuts around the corner. THey looked at me like I was the most unkind, ungracious person alive. So DH lied and said I had a stomach bug....bad parenting moment...when my Autism Spectrum son (who has no concept of lieing) says "since when?" (sure, throw dad under the bus...lol) After 2 hours I pulled my kids back inside as I am physically incapable of doing all the work myself. UGH! So I told DH that once we have a path to the kitched again I'll bake them cupcakes..lol...

Lol...my dh falls asleep at every family gathering. So now its a joke/bet as to when he will. He is very shy as well. Did you get it all done?

Quoting KickButtMama:

Oh I agree about the lying. I literally never went outside, so heard about the lying later. We never thought to ask about the family. DH had no plans to work on the car, his co-worker called out of he he blue and said he was in the area and could swing by, so it never occurred to DH to ask if the whole family was in the car, I hadn't even peaked outside when they arrived as I was buried...lol.. I'm a brutally honest person (everyone knows to not ask if they look bad in something..lol) but my DH is very, very shy and tends to panic when put on the spot - so he'll often issue a small lie to get the pressure off and regret it later. He says he married me to get me because I'm so outgoing..lol.. My family thought we were on the brink of divorce for the first several years of our marriage because he never spoke at any family gatherings. ;) they're used to him now. Lol

Quoting jakana2369:

Wow. My dh knows me better. He woukd asked if wife and kids were coming. You should have told the truth. You live in a very small apartment and are rearranging. Also I feel it is always better to tell the truth. All the kids could have played outside (if old enough without adults) and ask the other wife to help. She would have said no. And stayed outside with the kids or helped and you could have gotten it done.

I have a similar situation. My daughter likes this girl from a group we go to. She wants to invite her over and such. Ok, but her mother is a neat freak and every time several of us are sitting around shooting the breeze talking about stuff (at club group and stuff), she's nice about it, but you can tell that she is "above" the way I clean.

I mean, my house is not gross, it's just busy. With four kids that I'm home educating (most of it is hands-on learning, too because mine won't stay on task for a computer program)... I'm glad if my sink is mostly clean, bathroom sanitized, laundry picked up and moved along, and the floors not nasty... I get to a few bigger projects once in a while, but if you come by my house at any given time, there's just too much going on in this home for it to look like it belongs in a home magazine.

Anyway, her "helpful" comments come from a sweet heart she seems to have, but she's very, "well, if you guys don't know how to clean well, how do you teach your daughters?" She asked this and I just stared at her for a minute and finally just shrugged my shoulders and said, "your guess is as good as mine." Because she actually asked it two more times wanting an answer.

It makes me feel judged just sitting at another class talking about homelife with her. I really cringe thinking about having her and her daughter at my house. But my daughter wants to have her daughter over... so right now, I'm just putting it off. Isn't that terrible?

I just really feel awkward around this mom now and don't know how to handle my daughter's developing friendship with her daughter.

Ick, that would totally drive me crazy! Are you sure it's not passive aggressive? I get that from my mom whenever she stops by, which is thankfully rare. I would dread a playday as well! I would probably just set out out of the house play days..lol.. Otherwise, you'd think another homeschooler would appreciate the situation. I mostly get crap from people who are public schoolers and I point out - a) their kids are only home a couple of hours a day to make messes whereas mine are home most of the time..and b) it's like having all the stuff from the public school classroom in my livingroom! They only have to accommodate a backpack, I have to accommodate the teaching supplies, craft supplies, science stuff, paper, pencils, etc, etc, ETC! Grrrr

Quoting KrissyKC:

I have a similar situation. My daughter likes this girl from a group we go to. She wants to invite her over and such. Ok, but her mother is a neat freak and every time several of us are sitting around shooting the breeze talking about stuff (at club group and stuff), she's nice about it, but you can tell that she is "above" the way I clean.

I mean, my house is not gross, it's just busy. With four kids that I'm home educating (most of it is hands-on learning, too because mine won't stay on task for a computer program)... I'm glad if my sink is mostly clean, bathroom sanitized, laundry picked up and moved along, and the floors not nasty... I get to a few bigger projects once in a while, but if you come by my house at any given time, there's just too much going on in this home for it to look like it belongs in a home magazine.

Anyway, her "helpful" comments come from a sweet heart she seems to have, but she's very, "well, if you guys don't know how to clean well, how do you teach your daughters?" She asked this and I just stared at her for a minute and finally just shrugged my shoulders and said, "your guess is as good as mine." Because she actually asked it two more times wanting an answer.

It makes me feel judged just sitting at another class talking about homelife with her. I really cringe thinking about having her and her daughter at my house. But my daughter wants to have her daughter over... so right now, I'm just putting it off. Isn't that terrible?

I just really feel awkward around this mom now and don't know how to handle my daughter's developing friendship with her daughter.

My house is about 70% back to normal, now the kids room look like its usual mess..lol... I've almost organized all the school stuff...but Tuesday and Wednesday are our co-op days, so we didn't get much done on those days - but it was sooooo lovely coming home to a comfy couch! ;) so we should be back to normal craziness while my DH is away for hunting this weekend.

Quoting jakana2369:

Lol...my dh falls asleep at every family gathering. So now its a joke/bet as to when he will. He is very shy as well. Did you get it all done?

Quoting KickButtMama:

Oh I agree about the lying. I literally never went outside, so heard about the lying later. We never thought to ask about the family. DH had no plans to work on the car, his co-worker called out of he he blue and said he was in the area and could swing by, so it never occurred to DH to ask if the whole family was in the car, I hadn't even peaked outside when they arrived as I was buried...lol.. I'm a brutally honest person (everyone knows to not ask if they look bad in something..lol) but my DH is very, very shy and tends to panic when put on the spot - so he'll often issue a small lie to get the pressure off and regret it later. He says he married me to get me because I'm so outgoing..lol.. My family thought we were on the brink of divorce for the first several years of our marriage because he never spoke at any family gatherings. ;) they're used to him now. Lol

Quoting jakana2369:

Wow. My dh knows me better. He woukd asked if wife and kids were coming. You should have told the truth. You live in a very small apartment and are rearranging. Also I feel it is always better to tell the truth. All the kids could have played outside (if old enough without adults) and ask the other wife to help. She would have said no. And stayed outside with the kids or helped and you could have gotten it done.

Yeah thats great! Before we lived in the house we do we lived in 837sq ft. With 5 people and 3 large dogs. It doesn't matter if or what you clean it never seems to look good. If you need tips im here.

Quoting KickButtMama:

My house is about 70% back to normal, now the kids room look like its usual mess..lol... I've almost organized all the school stuff...but Tuesday and Wednesday are our co-op days, so we didn't get much done on those days - but it was sooooo lovely coming home to a comfy couch! ;) so we should be back to normal craziness while my DH is away for hunting this weekend.

Quoting jakana2369:

Lol...my dh falls asleep at every family gathering. So now its a joke/bet as to when he will. He is very shy as well. Did you get it all done?

Quoting KickButtMama:

Oh I agree about the lying. I literally never went outside, so heard about the lying later. We never thought to ask about the family. DH had no plans to work on the car, his co-worker called out of he he blue and said he was in the area and could swing by, so it never occurred to DH to ask if the whole family was in the car, I hadn't even peaked outside when they arrived as I was buried...lol.. I'm a brutally honest person (everyone knows to not ask if they look bad in something..lol) but my DH is very, very shy and tends to panic when put on the spot - so he'll often issue a small lie to get the pressure off and regret it later. He says he married me to get me because I'm so outgoing..lol.. My family thought we were on the brink of divorce for the first several years of our marriage because he never spoke at any family gatherings. ;) they're used to him now. Lol

Quoting jakana2369:

Wow. My dh knows me better. He woukd asked if wife and kids were coming. You should have told the truth. You live in a very small apartment and are rearranging. Also I feel it is always better to tell the truth. All the kids could have played outside (if old enough without adults) and ask the other wife to help. She would have said no. And stayed outside with the kids or helped and you could have gotten it done.

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